First Hike to Eagle Mountain

My son and his wife has asked us to take them to the start of the Long Trail in North Adams Ma and they spent a week hiking the long trail before we picked them up the following Saturday in Danby, Vermont.
Zachary had given me his old Long Trail Guide so I enjoyed looking at it everyday imaging where they were hiking and what they were seeing etc.  It was wonderful when we picked them up to hear about their adventure and it really got me itching to start hiking again.



My birthday came up in a few months and I got a Long Trail Day trip guide along with some spiffy new hiking poles! Oh I was excited! So on my actual birthday I found a short hike to start with in the general area of where Anders and I were planning on traveling for the day.  I picked Eagle Mountain because they said it was good for kids so figured since we hadn't hiked anything other than our back yard slope in along time so this would be a good place to start.

Eagle Mountain is on the shore of Lake Champlain and over looks the islands. Its a 2-3 mile hike with a 560 ft accent. They estimated the hiking time to be only an hour up and a half hour down.  A great place to start as its only a little bit more than hiking out mountain out back behind our house!

We arrived at the mountain and both were very excited as Anders signed the traditional Long Trail Guest book at the Trail Head.  We read the sign as to which trail to take and we were off on our way with my handy Day trip guide and hiking posts in hand.  The signs were a bit confusing as the text at the bottom of the hill said one thing and this guide post said something else.  We went to the top First , honestly expecting a view but only thing up there was a few old stone walls, it was a beautiful hike though with well maintained trails and being in the woods was so peaceful, we talked the whole way up , not like Anders and I are ever at a loss for words..:)

After we did the summit we wandered our way back down to the guide post again and started our way to Hoyt lookout hoping to see a view of the Lake . We weren't dissappointed.

It was really wonderful to just sit and look at the lake, bringing such fond memories to me , since I basically grew up here.  Looking at the islands that we came up to see many times on my Dads boat.
After having a snack we wandered back down to our car again stopping now and then just to take it all in, it might have been a short little hike but we sure did enjoy being in the arms of mother nature. Vermont at its finest and look forward to another hike in our beautiful state!